The last two years have been about survival amidst the pandemic that wreaked havoc in the world.. The dramatic changes borne out of compulsion have transformed all facets our lives. We demonstrated remarkable adaptability and experienced incredible community spirit that unlocked the power of togetherness. Now, a rapid surge of Omicron again rings warning bells and an existential threat in 2022 remains. However, the volatility of last two years has paved the way for a directional and hopefully positive transformation that would equip us for the challenges ahead, armed with the lesson of the time gone by.
Redefining Employees‘ Visibility
At workplace, one common thread that has emerged is that people power performance. Business prosperity is contingent upon its ability to retain and grow its people. Employees are yet to recover from the aftermath of the pandemic, but certainly there is no going back to old ways of working. A seismic shift in employees’ expectations is leading to transformation of work place ethos with focus on hybrid workplace, flexibility in workforce management and an ever growing emphasis on wellbeing. Silos have given away to cross functional collaboration, filling jobs is no longer an hiring mandate as talent development and retention are now critical
Employees are at the at the heart of everything at work. With the power balance shifting to employees; 2022 then promises to be the year of employees. A just in time approach for employees is unsustainable. We have to anticipate and consider all the levers we have for building and strengthening relationships with individual talent for creating a compelling new employee value proposition.
Hybrid Workplace
WFH regime was borne out of compulsion and opened platforms for new ways of working.Today a full on return to office is not readily acceptable. Employees still want to go to their office, to connect with their colleagues in person. However, they have redefined and re-prioritized their relationships and are not willing to sacrifice family time for work. They need the autonomy to exercise control over their work schedules for a better work-life balance.Wherever feasible, decentralized remote organizations and widespread shift to formalizing hybrid work place is then likely to be a choice for most employees. Traditional organization hierarchy are also gradually moving towards fluid and “flat” organizational structures with direct reporting, cross functional teams to address the core business imperatives.
Orchestration of Interconnected Technologies
Future workplaces are undergoing significant changes with convergence in architecture, real estate, room design and investment in collaborative technologies to provide world class work experience for different workforce segments.HR & IT teams are collaborating to redesign and support this transformation. Technology is being leveraged to drive operational efficiency, expand capabilities and understand the needs of dispersed employees as well as respond nimbly to a volatile environment.
Trust & Listen to Voice of Employees
During the pandemic, organisations swiftly transitioned to digital collaboration in the WFH regime but there were concerns: “Are my employees really working?” Today, accountability is not just about monitoring keystrokes and attendance to get things done but all about mutual trust and communication. This necessitates reversal of input and outcome formula.Not the “how” but “what” has to be achieved assumes importance and being able to pull the right levers to support and monitor their performance.
The pandemic uncovered that the voice of cross section of employees has long been ignored. Increasingly employees demand psychological safety to voice their grievances about unfair and harsh treatment, burnout issues etc. Listening to employees’ feedback with empathy and understanding is being encouraged to foster collaborative work culture that encourages equitable opportunities for knowledge sharing and problem solving.
Employees’ Wellbeing
Wellbeing,a critical element of resilience and business continuity assumes the centre stage of organisation plans.It is however not limited to an umbrella of health care and safety programs.Expecting employees to leave their personal problems at home is no longer feasible. People want safety but also their personal issues, emotional and financial issues to be addressed as well.A meaningful job with balanced integration of work and life overrides a steady pay check. Work flexibility, conducive work environment,employee mobility and flexible work schedules and arrangements that allows for a balanced fit of work into life are all integral to a holistic wellbeing program. In fact, a comprehensive review of the entire gamut of talent management practices augurs well for the overall organisation health and well-being.
Purpose To Define Workplace Culture
To redefine behavioural and work norms, “connecting” with employees and breaking the barriers of “we” vs “me” is important. A common purpose that everyone can be proud allows organizations to connect all stakeholders.A renewed focus on social and environment issues,good corporate citizenship, diversity, equity, and inclusion strategies are now beyond lip service and part of the larger business blueprint for a sustainable future.
Talent Scarcity & Growth
Amidst the spectre of “The Great Resignation”, digital innovation has also created new jobs.Talent crunch has then got compounded in the absence of internal talent availability. Employee mobility, availability of gig workers provides an opportunity to attract talent with new and different skill sets that will drive innovation and transformation. To create a competitive edge and scoop high quality talent,candidate’s experience has to be recast to accelerate the hiring process with availability of updates and provision of realistic job previews during the process.
Of course, there cannot be exits from one door and talent hiring from the other. The relevance of work and meaning of “success” is undergoing changes for most employees. To rebuild the workforce,there is little option but for organisation to step up the offerings and make a conscious attempt to re-energize, re-onboard them.This implies understanding career aspirations of their employees and provide opportunities to upgrade their skills and capabilities to capitalise and embark on a new career trajectory.
Workplace, Practices and Employee Experience
Employee experience and customer experience collide like never before and have a direct impact on the bottom line.Transformation of workforce and workplace then has to embrace progressive and sustainable people-centred initiatives where everyone can thrive on an equal footing. Policies, process and bureaucracy that were quickly shoehorned with onset of WFH are now being redesigned.One size fits all formula no longer holds good and it is all about rewriting the playbook for personalised employee experience for different demographic segments at every stage of the talent lifecycle for a competitive edge in the market place.
Conclusion
The journey is still unfolding with the scramble to ascertain the impact of Omicron on work place and back to work plans. Regardless, the pandemic is a wakeup call and a once in a life time opportunity to rewrite the rule book and reinvent the key drivers of value creation including talent management, customer acquisition and productivity in the world of work that is technologically enabled, humane and flexible. Let us not wait for future to happen but seize the opportunity to “future proof” our world of work in 2022.